McQueary: I believe I saw Sandusky molesting boy

The testimony is the first time assistant football coach Mike McQueary told his story in a public setting since the college football scandal rocked one of the most respected teams in the country. Former defensive coach Jerry Sandusky says he is innocent of more than 50 charges stemming from what authorities say were sexual assaults over 15 years on 10 boys.

Bradley C Bower/AP

Penn State assistant football coach Mike McQueary (r.) arrives at Dauphin County Court surrounded by heavy security on Dec. 16, in Harrisburg, Pa. McQueary declined to speak to reporters Friday as he entered the courthouse in Harrisburg for the hearing for Gary Schultz and Tim Curley, who are set to appear for a preliminary hearing related to the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse case.

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December 16, 2011

By Mark Scolforo and Maryclaire DaleAssociated Press

HARRISBURG, Pennsylvania

A Penn State assistant football coach testified Friday he believes he saw former assistant coach Jerry Sandusky sexually molesting a boy but cannot say he is 100 percent sure it was intercourse.

The testimony is the first time Mike McQueary told his story in a public setting since the college football scandal rocked one of the most respected teams in the country.

McQueary said he believes that Sandusky was attacking the child, aged 10 or 12, with his hands around the boy's waist in a Penn State locker room in 2002. He said there was no doubt in his mind that he fully conveyed what he had seen to two Penn State administrators now accused of lying to a grand jury about what he told them

Sandusky says he is innocent of more than 50 charges stemming from what authorities say were sexual assaults over 15 years on 10 boys.

McQueary testified he truly believes what he saw in a Penn State locker room in 2002 was intercourse. He said the boy was facing a wall, with his hands on it.

He said he peeked into the shower several times and that the last time he looked in, Sandusky and the boy had separated. He said he didn't say anything, but "I know they saw me. They looked directly in my eye, both of them."

He also said he reported it to coach Joe Paterno the next day. He said he did not give Paterno explicit details of what he believed he'd seen, saying he wouldn't have used terms like "sodomy" or "anal intercourse" out of respect for the longtime coach.

He said Paterno told him he'd "done the right thing" by coming to him. The head coach appeared shocked and saddened and slumped back in his chair.

McQueary said Paterno told him he would talk to others about what he'd reported.

Paterno, the winningest coach in major college football, was fired shortly after the scandal broke as university officials said he had not done enough to pursue complaints about his former top assistant.

Nine or 10 days later, McQueary said he met with school administrators Tim Curley and Gary Schultz and told them he'd seen Sandusky and a boy, both naked, in the shower after hearing skin on skin slapping sounds.

"I told them that I saw Jerry in the showers with a young boy and that what I had seen was extremely sexual and over the lines and it was wrong," McQueary said. "I would have described that it was extremely sexual and I thought that some kind of intercourse was going on."

McQueary said he was left with the impression both men took his report seriously. When asked why he didn't go to police, he referenced Shultz's position as a vice president at the university who had overseen the campus police

"I thought I was talking to the head of the police, to be frank with you," he said. "It was someone who police reported to and would know what to do with it."

Curley and Schultz are charged with lying to a grand jury and failing to properly report what McQueary allegedly told them. Their lawyers say the men are innocent and contest McQueary's statements

District Judge William C. Wenner was hearing testimony Friday to help him decide whether state prosecutors have enough evidence against the pair to send their cases to trial.

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